[Editorial] Tax evasion

The National Tax Service recently announced it had collected more than 1.4 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in additional tax from about 5,000 tax evaders last year. More revenues would have been put into state coffers if the tax agency had expanded the target of its crackdown beyond those who avoided paying delinquent taxes exceeding 500 million won for more than a year.These habitual tax dodgers’ lack of morals was far more severe than had been thought by many people. For example, a real estate com

April 14, 2015

[Editorial] One year on

A year earlier, Korea was drawn into an abyss of disbelief and grief when a ferry carrying 476 passengers, mostly teenage students on a school trip, sank off the southwestern coast, leaving more than 300 dead or missing.On Thursday, the country marks the first anniversary of the maritime disaster while engulfed in a snowballing scandal over allegations by a late construction company owner that he gave large sums of money to figures close to President Park Geun-hye.Park is scheduled to attend a c

April 14, 2015

[Editorial] Money and politics

The claim of the late tycoon Sung Woan-jong that he gave huge sums of money to politicians close to President Park Geun-hye showed once again that Korean politics is still heavily contaminated by money. All the politicians mentioned by Sung denied they had received money from the former chief of Keangnam Enterprises, who committed suicide Thursday in the midst of an investigation into corruption allegations against him. But while denials are common, we know well that in many such cases, allegati

April 13, 2015

[Editorial] Clouds over economy

The central bank’s latest economic outlook should reawaken policymakers to the need to redouble their efforts to keep the Korean economy out of a low-growth trap and away from the specter of deflation. Last week, the Bank of Korea cut its economic growth outlook for this year to 3.1 percent, 0.3 percentage points lower than its last adjustment in January. Revising the forecast for the fourth time, its second in three months, the BOK cited the weaker-than-expected gross domestic product data in t

April 13, 2015

[Editorial] Political payments

A piece of paper found on the late Sung Woan-jong, former head of the beleaguered Keangnam Enterprises, and an audio file of a telephone interview with a newspaper Thursday morning before he hung himself from a tree have rocked the nation.The memo contains a list naming eight politicians, including two former Blue House chiefs of staff, the current chief of staff and the current prime minister, with numbers indicating sums of money next to six of the names. The names and the amount of money in f

April 12, 2015

[Editorial] Salvaging Sewol

Responding to President Park Geun-hye’s call to seriously consider recovering the sunken Sewol ferry, the government released a study Friday that shows the recovery of the ferry to be technically possible.The interim result of the government study was announced following the demand from the families of the victims to salvage the 6,825-ton ferry in order to determine the exact cause of the disaster and to recover the bodies of nine people who remain missing.The study reviewed the feasibility of f

April 12, 2015

[Editorial] No bonehead play

The Korea Investment Corp. plans to buy a 19 percent stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers for $400 million, which would mark the first time for the sovereign wealth fund to invest in a sports team.The KIC has completed due diligence and if talks with Guggenheim Partners, the largest shareholder of the pro baseball club, go well, a contract is likely to be signed in late May, according to KIC officials. They said under the possible deal, the KIC will share revenue from ticket sales and broadcasting r

April 10, 2015

[Editorial] Labor reform in crisis

The labor reform talks that lasted six months is in jeopardy as the union representatives walked out of the tripartite committee with government and employers. Judging from past experiences, it is hardly surprising that the Federation of Korean Trade Unions unilaterally declared an end to the negotiations. To be fair, few had expected that the tripartite panel would easily strike a deal like the social compromise forged in the wake of the 1997 Asian foreign exchange crisis. At that time, unions

April 10, 2015

[Editorial] Equations of diplomacy

As the U.S. and Japan forge closer relations in the face of growing Chinese power in the region, the U.S. appears to be siding with Japan in the long-standing dispute over history between Korea and Japan, raising concerns among many Koreans.The tight rapport between the U.S. and Japan was shown in U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s email interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun, in which he said that Korea, Japan, and the U.S. “must look toward the future.” While the U.S. “appreciates the historic

April 9, 2015

[Editorial] Gaeseong dilemma

Trouble is brewing once again at the Gaeseong industrial complex, a South-North joint venture in the North Korean border town of Gaeseong.The issue at hand is the payment of wages for the more than 50,000 North Korean workers who are employed at 125 South Korean companies operating at the industrial complex. Pyongyang announced last month that it would raise the minimum wage to $74 a month from $70.35, a 5.18 percent increase, and revise the welfare payment system. Under the new system, the tota

April 9, 2015

[Editorial] Lower voting age

Koreans tend to show a keen interest in their country’s position in various comparisons among the 34 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Policymakers, legislators, researchers and commentators here nearly habitually cite OECD data in their argument on what should be done to make Korea a more advanced nation. However, they have paid little attention to the fact that, of the OECD members, only Korea and Japan keep the voting age above 18. Japan revised a law

April 8, 2015

[Editorial] Wise response

Japan irked South Korea this week with two consecutive moves aimed at strengthening its territorial claim to the Dokdo islets that lie between the two countries. Tokyo’s Education Ministry on Monday unveiled the results of its regular review of textbooks for middle school students. All 18 textbooks approved by the ministry contained Japan’s claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets, with 13 of them saying Seoul is illegally occupying Dokdo, which is called Takeshima in Japan.Tokyo also repeated

April 8, 2015

[Editorial] Reform agenda

The National Assembly started an extraordinary session Tuesday, with an array of reform proposals and important bills awaiting legislative review. Given the role of the parliament, each and every sitting should be important, but the monthlong session carries extra significance owing to the all-important reform proposals, not least those for the pension system for government employees and labor market.The forthcoming month will determine the fate of the thorny reform issues, which will largely pa

April 7, 2015

[Editorial] Damage limitation

The Board of Audit and Inspection has announced the outcome of its audit of the government-funded projects for securing overseas resources. The BAI said since 2003, three state-run energy firms ― Korea National Oil Corp., Korea Gas Corp. and Korea Resources Corp. ― had invested a total of 31.4 trillion won ($28.7 billion) in 116 projects. Of this, 27 trillion won was spent during the Lee Myung-bak administration (2008-2013) and the rest during the Roh Moo-hyun administration (2003-2008). Of the

April 7, 2015

[Editorial] Speed over safety?

Koreans were led to believe that public safety would receive the utmost attention following last year’s Sewol ferry disaster, which has been attributed to, among other things, blatant disregard for safety in pursuit of monetary gains. Yet, just as the nation is about to mark the first anniversary of that disaster, we are reminded how little progress has been made in raising awareness about safety. How else can one explain the statement issued by KORAIL following three incidents on the newly open

April 6, 2015

[Editorial] Influence peddling

The snowballing allegations of influence peddling by Park Bum-hoon, senior presidential secretary for education from 2011 to 2013 during the Lee Myung-bak administration, now has prosecutors planning to summon Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction Chairman Park Yong-sung, who is the chairman of the board at Chung-Ang University, a university owned by Doosan Group. In the latest revelation concerning Park Bum-hoon, who served as Chung-Ang University president from 2005-2011, Doosan Group is al

April 6, 2015

[Editorial] Shrinking exports

Korea’s exports dropped 4.2 percent from a year earlier in March, following the 0.7 percent and 3.4 percent losses in January and February, respectively, according to data released by the central bank last week. Experts attributed the fall in exports in the first quarter to a combination of a weak Japanese yen, a slower-than-expected global economic recovery and sliding international crude prices that are reducing profits of the country’s petrochemical products exporters. Unfavorable commerce co

April 5, 2015

[Editorial] Brazen move

A parliamentary special committee on political reform held its first meeting last week only to fuel public doubt about whether the outcome of its work will meet the reasonable standards demanded by voters.Some lawmakers on the bipartisan committee raised the need to increase the number of parliamentary seats, which is now set at 300, to about 360. This brazen proposal comes from a simple calculation to offset the impact that last year’s ruling by the Constitutional Court will have on their veste

April 5, 2015

[Editorial] Sewol compensation

The government’s announcement of compensation for victims of the Sewol ferry disaster last April that claimed the lives more than 300 people has earned the ire of the victims’ families.In a statement released April 2, representatives of the victim’s families said a thorough investigation of the deadly accident and a decision to bring up the ship should be made first before compensation can be discussed. The first anniversary of the accident that the nation witnessed live on television is just ar

April 3, 2015

[Editorial] Iran breakthrough

Following two years of negotiations, Iran has signed a nuclear agreement with the U.S. and five other countries Thursday that prevents the country’s nuclear program from producing nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting economic sanctions. Although the agreement still has to be finalized in a comprehensive pact due in June, it is a breakthrough for the U.S., which will now be able to rebuild relations with Iran, and for Iran, whose economy has been crippled by the years-long economic sanctions.

April 3, 2015